The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier began in Abu Dhabi today (Thursday). Sri Lanka and Ireland won the opening two matches at Tolerance Oval and Zayed Cricket Stadium respectively.

Sri Lanka overcame Thailand while Ireland defeated the hosts, United Arab Emirates (UAE), both winners recorded convincing victories over their opponents.

At Zayed Cricket Stadium, Eimear Richardson starred with an all-round performance for Ireland. Sri Lanka’s bowlers produced a stellar performance as they bowled Thailand out for 55 at the Tolerance Oval.

Ireland vs UAE

Esha Oza got UAE off to a flier with an onslaught on Alana Dalzell in the second over of the game, but the bowler had the last laugh when she sent the opener back off the final ball of the over.

Theertha Satish and Khushi Sharma rebuilt the innings for UAE with a solid partnership that came at a pretty good rate, but Ireland launched a spirited comeback into the game that saw the UAE innings unravel pretty quickly.

From 64/1, UAE slipped to 77/7 in the space of five overs as Arlene Kelly, Cara Murray and Richardson shared the spoils. The talented Kavisha Egodage was run out to add to UAE’s woes.

The lower order could not muster much of a fight as UAE finished on 105/9 in 20 overs, despite the promising start they had to the innings.

Kelly and Richardson claimed two wickets apiece and were the pick of Ireland’s bowlers.

In response, Ireland raced off the blocks with Amy Hunter and Gaby Lewis in great touch. The duo smashed 52 in the Powerplay, before Lewis departed off the final ball of the sixth over, edging Egodage to the wicketkeeper for a 22-ball 27.

Oza struck in successive overs with the big wickets of Laura Delany and Rebecca Stokell as Ireland stumbled to 68/4.

Orla Prendergast found able support from Richardson and Ireland kept the innings stable. The duo remained unbeaten and wiped off the target with more than three overs to spare as Ireland got their campaign off to a winning start.

Sri Lanka vs Thailand

A disciplined bowling performance from Thailand restricted one of the favourites in the tournament, Sri Lanka, to 122/5 in 20 overs at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi.

Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka got off to a slow start in the Powerplay with captain, Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne taking their time to settle in.

Chanida Sutthiruang sent back Gunaratne for 13 inside the Powerplay, but the big blow came right after the restrictions when Athapaththu was run out by a brilliant bit of fielding.

Hasini Perera dropped anchor at one end, but Thailand managed to find a couple of breakthroughs from the other end to keep the scoring rate under control. Eventually, Perera too was trapped in front by Sunida Chaturongrattana for 29 and Sri Lanka slipped to a precarious 78/5 with just over five overs remaining in the innings.

Nilakshi de Silva and Anushka Sanjeewani joined hands in a crucial stand that drove Sri Lanka out of the woods. De Silva finished unbeaten for 29 (20 balls), while Anushka made 13 off 15 as Sri Lanka finished on 122/5.

In response, Udeshika Prabodhani and Inoshi Priyadharshani led Sri Lanka’s bowling effort with only one batter making double digits.

While Thailand got off to a decent start with 29 runs on the board in the Powerplay for the loss of one, wickets tumbled soon after as Sri Lanka displayed their strength with the ball.

Prabhodhani, Kavisha Dilhari and Achini Kulasuriya helped Sri Lanka reduce Thailand to 40/5 and things went further downhill for Thailand as three wickets fell in the 14th over, bowled by Priyadharshani.

They slipped to 45/8 and were eventually bowled out for 55 with Athapaththu wrapping up the innings with the final wicket.

Priyadharshani starred with 3 for 14 in her four overs while Prabodhani took 2 for 10 in her three overs.

Scores in brief:

Match 1:

Sri Lanka beat Thailand by 67 runs

Sri Lanka 122 for 5, 20 overs (Nilakshi De Silva 29 not out, Hasini Perera 29; Chanida Sutthiruang 1-15, Sunida Chaturongrattana 1-15)

Thailand 55 all out, 16.2 overs (Nannapat Koncharoenkai 18; Inoshi Priyadharshani 3-14, Udeshika Prabodhani 1-10)

Player of the match – Inoshi Priyadharshani

Match 2:

Ireland beat UAE by six wickets

UAE 105 for 9, 20 overs (Khushi Sharma 24, Theertha Satish 22; Arlene Kelly 2-12, Eimear Richardson 2-15)

Ireland 106 for 4, 16.1 overs (Gaby Lewis 27, Amy Hunter 25, Eimear Richardson 22 not out, Amy Hunter 22 not out; Esha Oza 3-13)

Player of the match – Eimear Richardson